The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

出版者:Knopf

作者:Benjamin M. Friedman

页数:592

出版时间:2005-10-18

价格:USD 35.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780679448914

图书标签:经济学经济economics历史电子版politicsmobiHistory

From the author of Day of Reckoning, the acclaimed critique of Ronald Reagan’s economic policy (“Every citizen should read it,” said The New York Times): a persuasive, wide-ranging argument that broadly distributed economic growth provides benefits far beyond the material, creating and strengthening democratic institutions, establishing political stability, fostering tolerance, and enhancing opportunity.

“Are we right,” Benjamin M. Friedman asks, “to care so much about economic growth as we clearly do?” To answer, Friedman reaches beyond economics. He examines the political and social histories of the large Western democracies—particularly of the United States since the Civil War—distinguishing times of generally rising living standards from those of pervasive stagnation to illustrate how rising incomes render a society more open and democratic. He shows, too, how our attitudes toward economic growth and its consequences have roots in the thinking of prior centuries, especially the Enlightenment, and also include significant strands of religious influence.

Friedman also delineates the role of economic growth in determining which developing nations extend the broadest freedoms to their citizenry. He makes clear that growth, rather than just the level of living standards, is key to effecting political and social liberalization in the third world. But he also warns that the democratic values of countries even as wealthy as our own are at risk whenever incomes stagnate for extended periods. Merely being rich is no protection against a society’s retreat into rigidity and intolerance once enough of its citizens lose the sense that they are getting ahead.

Finally, Friedman shows us why, if America is to strengthen democratic institutions around the world as a bulwark against terrorism and social unrest, we must aggressively pursue growth at home and promote worldwide economic expansion beyond what purely market-driven forces would create. And for the United States, he offers concrete suggestions for policy steps to achieve those objectives.

A major contribution to the ongoing debate on the effects of economic growth and globalization.

读后感

我们容易相信一些简单而直接的便宜话，这种话的表面最好泛着一些道德的金光，往往看得人一晃神，然后一不小心就信了。比如有人问：高速的经济增长好吗？然后有专家回答说：就是好。这对话就算结束，听众也很满意。但是，这句话的信息量基本等于零。稍微严谨一点考虑，如果要回...  

上个世纪中后期，美国步入一个令人振奋的持续繁荣期，哈佛大学的政治学教授帕特南却发现，美国的社会似乎在堕落。帕特南被许多人誉为几乎可以和伟大的罗尔斯媲美的当代政治哲学家——当然，现在还不能称为伟大的帕特南，但他的声音已经震撼了全球。社会资本一词，就是因为他而...  

Moral Consequences of Economic Growth http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/friedman/moral Stiglitz: http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/friedman/files/The%20Ethical%20Economist.pdf

上个世纪中后期，美国步入一个令人振奋的持续繁荣期，哈佛大学的政治学教授帕特南却发现，美国的社会似乎在堕落。帕特南被许多人誉为几乎可以和伟大的罗尔斯媲美的当代政治哲学家——当然，现在还不能称为伟大的帕特南，但他的声音已经震撼了全球。社会资本一词，就是因为他而...  

我们容易相信一些简单而直接的便宜话，这种话的表面最好泛着一些道德的金光，往往看得人一晃神，然后一不小心就信了。比如有人问：高速的经济增长好吗？然后有专家回答说：就是好。这对话就算结束，听众也很满意。但是，这句话的信息量基本等于零。稍微严谨一点考虑，如果要回...